Slipping the Past (18 page)

He kissed along her neck. “Where’s your betrothed, Joelle?”

“With some strumpet in the ballroom, making a scandal of himself.”

“You really think I’d look unforgettable? There you go again, saying something sweet. You’ve got to stop doing that. You’ll tarnish your bad-ass reputation,” Jocelyn said.

“Stop it.” Gabriel pressed his palm to his forehead.

“Stop what?” Jocelyn turned with a smile that quickly faded. “You can fight the visions, but they’ll hurt worse.”

“Help me fight it. Can’t pass out here.” He groaned and sank to the sidewalk, clutching his head in his hands. Blood began to trickle from his nose.

“Don’t let it take you. You’re too heavy for me to carry.” Jocelyn dropped next to him and used the cuff of her jacket to dab at the blood. “Stay with me, Gabriel.”

“I’m trying, Jo,” he growled between gritted teeth. “I can’t believe you lived this long with these. How’d you survive?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was used to it. I had a million other things to worry about. After awhile, it becomes routine.”

“God.” Gabriel groaned again and rocked back and forth. “This sucks.”

“Hang in there. I’m here. Stay with me.” She touched him and fire shot through his blood. There was a tug on his energy and he looked into her eyes. “You need to kiss me. Don’t ask why, just do it.” Jocelyn’s face blurred, replaced with another’s.

He whirled her around and pressed her into the side of a stone wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist.

He stroked the skin of her thigh, pushing the jade skirt higher, exposing everything forbidden. “You’re so beautiful, Joelle.”

“I want you to be my first.”

He knew he shouldn’t, and fought the temptation. Joelle wasn’t just some pretty maid. His father and hers had been the best of friends. They’d lived but a short distance from each other, and he’d seen her often, out in the fields picking flowers or walking along the road toward the abbey. As children, they’d chased each other through the woods. As a young man, he’d chased her in another manner, wanting to catch her for reasons more than child’s play. As she grew older, she bloomed into a beauty, a sight to behold. He’d loved her for as long as he could remember, but could never put voice to his feelings.

When his father sent him away to serve another lord, he thought he’d never set eyes on her again, and that day he’d abandoned all hope of finding love. He’d left his heart behind with her.

Years later, this very night, he saw her sitting at his lord’s table, drinking wine and staring across the room from where he stood next to a fireplace. His lord’s toast to his future wife, Lady Joelle’s beauty, had shaken him to his core. He dared not take a seat for fear he’d be caught watching her, and excused himself from the feast, claiming he’d a tavern wench to tup.

A lie. It was no tavern wench he lusted over. He’d escaped to a small courtyard, trying to catch his breath, not knowing she’d followed.

He was a knight sworn, but here he was in the garden with his lord’s betrothed. If he had her, he’d pay for what he took. He sucked in a deep breath and pressed his forehead to hers. “I cannot do this.” He had taken oaths not easily broken. His honor would fall with them. For the seventh son of a lesser lord, that would leave him to beg in the streets for scraps, or swing from the gallows, or perhaps find his head piked on the gates.

“Cannot or will not?”

“I will not.”

She nibbled his chin before pressing her lips to his ear. “I do not love him.”

“That does not matter. This marriage is sanctioned by the king and church. You will be wed to him tomorrow and you will be his wife.” He broke free and stepped back. “You can never belong to me.”

“I’ve belonged to you since the day I was born. Can you not feel it? Do you not remember how happy we were?”

“No.”

“Your jaw twitches when you tell a lie.”

“Does it?” He looked away, not wanting her to see the truth in his eyes. How he ached for her.

“Aye. You know I am right.” She ran her hand along the side of his face and turned him back to her. “Be with me tonight. I will never speak of this to anyone. I shall surely die if I do not lie with you before I am given to another. I will always belong to you.”

“My honor won’t allow it.”

“What of your heart?”

“Do not speak of matters of the heart. They lead men into temptation and treachery.”

“The heart does not lie.”

“Ah, but it does. It would trick me to commit a sin, to break my oaths. I cannot listen to it.”

“Then listen to this.” Her warm breath brushed his mouth as she leaned in.

Jocelyn slid her hands into his hair and touched her lips to his. The fire inside him leaped and the pull on his energy increased. Worlds blurred and became one. He started to pull back and she seized his head, holding him to her. The drain increased.

As the vision began to fade, Jocelyn’s hands dropped to his shoulders, her kiss warm with a longing that went deeper than the moment. He continued to hold her, savoring the feel of her lips against his, until the past and the pain disappeared.

The draw stopped and Jocelyn fell slack in his arms. Gabriel pulled her tight to his chest. “No.” He hadn’t been mistaken. She was the one draining him, taking the pain, stopping the vision. So why was she limp?

“Jocelyn.” He shook her shoulder. “I’m such a bastard.”

“No,” she mumbled. “It’s okay.”

He pulled her in tight. “I thought I hurt you again.”

“Don’t worry about me.” She turned her face and buried it in his coat.

“Your eyes?”

She nodded. “My sight’s back. Nate’s in trouble. We’ve got to save him.”

***

Nate flicked through the channels on the holo-set. “You two need to split up,” he grumbled, mocking Gabriel’s voice, “so I can bang your sister.” What was he thinking, letting that reaper take his sister? “I’m an idiot.”

He stopped on a channel for a second, then started flipping through them again. “The man has absolutely zero respect for women and I let him take Jocelyn. Dumbass.”

“Whoa. Hello there.” He stared at half-naked women running up and down the beach. “With a little more bounce, baby. Oh yeah, make those….” The lights in the room flickered and the screen went static.

Nate smacked the remote against his palm. “What the hell?” He pointed it at the screen and pushed the button. The station changed. More static. “Oh, come on. You stick me in this dinky room with nothing to do and I can’t even watch a show.” He threw the remote across the room and jumped up.

The lights flickered again. He opened the drawer, stared down at a bible, and slammed the drawer shut. “I’m going down to the office and getting my show back.” He shoved his feet into his tied sneakers and reached for the door. “Stay in the room, Nate. It’s not safe to go out,” he grumbled.

Nate peeked down the hall. Empty. The lights flickered like they did in the room. He shut the door behind him and started walking, glancing at the lights every time they popped. As he turned the corner, they went out.

“Oh, shit. This is so not good.” He’d been so preoccupied with losing his entertainment, he hadn’t thought twice about why the electricity was acting up. Damn, he’d been a fool. Nate pressed back against the wall, hoping the emergency lights would kick on.

They didn’t.

Doors opened and people poked their heads out. One man held a flashlight. Nate pushed off the wall. He strode straight at him, snatched it from his hand, and darted down the hall.

“Hey. That’s mine.”

“I need it more than you do.” Nate ignored him and trotted for the stairs, glancing over his shoulder. How’d they find him? He tugged the door open and started down. “Yeah, I’m going to have to tell Gabriel what I think of his brilliant idea.”

“It was brilliant, with one exception. He underestimated me.” Red eyes stared up from the bottom of the stairwell. “Are you going to make this easy or do I come up there and get you?”

***

“No Enforcer has ever shifted more than a soul and his own body. Not enough energy. Physics won’t allow it.”

“Then you’ll have to leave me.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Gabriel settled her on her feet.

“Please. Just go.”

“I’ll get you to the room first.”

“Stop. Listen to me.”

“It’s not too far.”

“Would you shut up for a second? I don’t know why it happened, but I’m okay. This is what I’m used to. I can take care of myself. Save my brother.”

“You’re blind again.”

“I told you I see fine.”

“No.” He grabbed her arm and began to escort her down the street.

Jocelyn yanked away. “I’ll be okay. Go. I’ll be here when you get back.” She found a grate in the sidewalk where the warm air blew up. She sat down and pulled her jacket closed. “Please go. They’ve found him, or will soon.”

He growled.

“If you don’t save my brother, you can forget about me. We’re a package deal.” Jocelyn raised the cuff of her jacket to her mouth, then dropped it. If he saw her fretting, he wouldn’t leave. His urge to protect her was driving her nuts. Nate needed help. It never took long for her prophesies to come to fruit. She tucked both hands into her armpits.

“You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t go anywhere.”

“I don’t plan on it. It’s kind of hard to navigate without a cane or eyes. The streets are empty. I can’t ride and the lamps here are too bright to use my eyes.”

“Ride?”

“I’ll explain later. Go.”

Jocelyn felt the hole when he vanished. His comforting energy disappeared, replaced with uneasiness.

***

Gabriel did say not to talk to him.
Yeah, okay
. Hard to ignore Ian when he had him by the lapels and a foot off the floor, slammed against the wall. The garlic from whatever Italian dish he’d consumed blasted from the reaper’s mouth.

“Nate Miller. I’ve been looking for you.” He shoved harder, embedding Nate in the plaster. Chunks broke loose and dropped to the floor, sending a cloud of chalky dust upward to mingle with the overpowering odor of garlic. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

Why did every reaper on the planet feel the need to polish the plaster with him? Ian yanked him away from the wall and slammed him over the railing, catching the middle of his back on the steel bar. Perhaps polishing a plaster wall wasn’t so bad.

“You going to Mirandize me, or is this your way of picking up a date? If it is, your technique needs a little work.”

Ian smiled and lifted him off the rail. “That’s it. Talk to me, kid.”

Nate bit the inside of his cheek. Hopefully he hadn’t given the reaper everything.

“So, Gabriel thinks if he keeps you separate, I can’t find her?”

Nate shook his head.

“Too late to keep quiet, kid. You should have listened to Gabriel and kept your mouth shut. I know everything. I know about your evidence. I know it all.” Ian yanked him nose to nose, his feet still dangling above the landing. “I’m going to destroy this evidence, every trace. Then I’m going to take your sister’s soul and stick it in a cell. Maybe I’ll tuck yours next to Gabriel’s in the Mariana Trench. You two can get cozy at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean.”

“What in the hell have you been eating? Have you ever heard of breath mints?”

“Garlic linguini with sea scallops, red sauce, and a side of poi. They don’t go well with breath mints.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Go ahead. Think of it as a last request.”

“What the fuck is poi?”

“Good.”

“Well, it smells like shit.” Nate turned his face away. “Why are you doing this? Why destroy the evidence?”

Ian released his jacket and dropped him to the floor. “There are two reasons people reincarnate: love, or they’ve done something bad and will keep repeating the experience until they get it right. Jocelyn hasn’t come back all these times because she’s gotten it wrong. In fact, she’s gotten it right. She thinks she’s found her true love and this is her way of spending eternity with him.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

He shrugged. “I don’t enjoy the little trips. I’ve lived so many lives, the dreams storm my mind and hold siege to my sanity. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t take the voices.”

“You’re telling me all this is Jocelyn’s fault, that because she keeps coming back for love, you’re stuck tagging along on the ride. Sorry, I’m not buying that. You said there were two reasons. If you haven’t come back for love, you’re coming back because you keep screwing up and you’re doomed to repeat ’til you correct the mistakes. You ought to stop blaming my sister and focus on what you’re doing wrong.”

“It’s not that easy. I’ve been coming back for love, too.” He stared at the lights, then down at Nate. “I love her. I always have—always will.”

“Why are you doing this if it will buy you a ticket back here? Let her go. She obviously doesn’t want you.”

“I could never let her go, but I’m going to break the cycle. I’m not planning to kill her. I’m going to lock her soul away. If her spirit can’t reincarnate, all this will end and I will finally be free. Plus, that bastard won’t get to keep her. No, she won’t be powering some city. She’s special. I’m going to put her on my shelf.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Some call it that. Some call it genius.”

“Hey, genius. Let the kid go.” Gabriel dropped onto the landing a few feet from them. He rose and straightened his coat.

Ian reached down and grabbed Nate’s collar, yanking him to his feet. He swung them both around so the stair rail was at his back and the kid shielded his front. He stood at least ten feet away. Not a great distance, but enough for Saefa to do damage before he could free him.

“I’ve got a warrant. When I’m done with him, I’ll get one for you. You’re supposed to uphold the laws of the land. Not break them and hide the fugitives you’re sworn to take in.”

“Jocelyn has a reprieve.”

“I wasn’t talking about Jocelyn.”